Nancy MCCORMACK Obituary

MCCORMACK, Nancy (nee Helfinger) Nancy died, on July 17, 2019, in Kingston, Ontario, at the age of 56. She is survived by her husband Eric, brother Michael Helfinger (Deb Grant), mother Johanna Helfinger, stepchildren, Michael (Elspeth Minty), Jody Evely (Derek) and step-grandchildren, Oscar, Polly and Mastewal Evely. She is predeceased by her father, Rudolf Helfinger.

Origins: Nancy grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo where her father worked in a factory and her mother did housekeeping at the local hospital. They were both immigrants from Europe. Nancy's mother was an avid reader, forever bringing home piles of books from the public library. That enthusiasm infected her children even before they could actually read, Nancy and her big brother became lovers of books. Eventually they did so well in high school that teachers assumed they'd go on to university. But no-one in their entire family circle had ever done such a thing. In fact, their parents really had only the vaguest of ideas of what a university education was all about. Her brother nevertheless did become a graduate of the nearby U of Waterloo, then proceeded to a higher degree at UBC. When Nancy's turn came, she was also determined to take the university path. Her parents were less than keen. They thought a typing and filing job might be just the thing for a smart girl like her, just out of high school. That only made her more stubborn. She went ahead and registered at U of Waterloo, managing tuition by taking numerous part-time jobs and living at home. Literature and Love: She collected two degrees in English Literature - a Bachelor's (Waterloo) and a Master's (McMaster). Now what? She longed to stay in the academic environment, so she took various administrative jobs (Philosophy Department, Registrar's Office, Alumni Affairs) on the campus of U of Waterloo. There she met and married her best friend and great love, Eric McCormack, a marriage that lasted till her death 32 years later. Over the span of those years they adopted many wonderful rescue cats and lined every available wall of their house with bookcases over-stuffed with books. Visitors said the house was like a library. One thing led logically to another, Nancy enrolled at library school. Libraries: She duly acquired a Master's of Library Science (Western). In the course of her studies, quite by chance, she found a part-time job as a Law-Librarian in a London firm. Now she was really smitten. Like many people with a Humanities background, she felt a deep affinity for the Law, with its rootedness in the written language and insistence on intellectual rigour. Each time she visited Toronto, walking by the iron gates of U of T Law School, she'd think to herself, ""I'd love to be here.""

The Law: In time, with typical determination, Nancy walked through those iron gates as a registered student of Law. For three hectic years, she commuted on the Greyhound bus from Kitchener to Toronto every weekday. Eric would drive her to the depot for the 5:45 a.m. bus, then pick her up on her return at 7:30 p.m. The commute often took two and a half hours each way, and crowded buses were certainly not conducive to studying. ""It's a terrible way to do a law degree,"" she'd say. But she persisted, aware that suffering often goes hand-in-hand with desire. She completed the J.D. (at that time, an ""LL.B"") at U of Toronto. A couple of years later, commuting yet again, she also added a Master's degree in Law (Osgoode).

The Right Mix: She subsequently articled and became a licensed member of the Ontario bar. But she still loved the idea of being a Law-Librarian rather than practising law. So she worked for two years at Fasken Martineau's (Toronto) Law Library and one more year at U of T's Law Library (those iron gates!). She still had to commute between K-W and Toronto, but now Via Rail provided an alternative to an overcrowded Greyhound bus crawling along an equally overcrowded 401.

The Dream Job: When Queens University offered Nancy a cross-appointment between the Faculty of Law and the Law Library, she and Eric moved to Kingston. On the teaching side, she taught various Legal Research courses over many years. And, eventually, Torts, which she loved. The Law Reports were in many ways like intricate short stories (often with unhappy endings). Nancy found her literary background surprisingly useful in disentangling the human element. As for the library side of her appointment, she continued to provide the expected research help to patrons, a task she enjoyed very much. She also authored or co-authored six books on law and related topics. She won prestigious prizes in her field. But the unquestionable highlight of her career, she always said, was to have met, and learned, from so many wonderful students over the years. She certainly impressed them with her enthusiasm, wit, unpretentiousness, and, of course, empathy for those who got to Law School the hard way. She was, in fact, a born teacher. Above all, she was a brave, marvellous human being, a lover of life, music and poetry. Her parents could scarcely have imagined that one day their book-loving daughter would become the embodiment of some of the great qualities       a university stands for. https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/queens-remembers-nancy-mccormack.

Finally: Nancy wanted to extend her deepest gratitude for the unwavering love and support of family and friends during these last weeks, her appreciation for the kindness of the nursing staff on the Palliative Care floor at Kingston General Hospital, and her thanks to those terrific physicians who did everything to make her final days bearable, Michael Green, Michael Beyak, Maria Kalyvas, Kiran Virik, Ingrid Harle, Andrew Robinson, and Chris Parker (whom she entertained in the minutes before she died with her witty comments, she never could repress that innate impulse!). She forbade Eric from organizing any solemn or formal memorial. In accordance with her wishes, something more to her tastes will be arranged later in the summer. She also requested any expressions of sympathy should be made to Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre, https://sandypineswildlife.org/.

Cremation arrangements entrusted to
 Gordon F. Tompkins Funeral Home, Township Chapel (613-546-5150).
  Online condolences www.gftompkinstownship.ca

Published by Waterloo Region Record from Jul. 17 to Jul. 24, 2019.

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